we have now lost the easterly component of that movement. we're now moving north at 14, which means this is as far east as we are going to see sandy before it before it makes the all-important hook to the left and that's on track to happen as we head through today and into tomorrow. take a look at rain band coming in. torrential rain, flooding from the rain, anywhere from 5 to 10 inches. on top of that we'll get the winds gusting 60 to 80 to the west. an incredible event here as far as size. and then the winds will push the water inland. the storm surge potential still in long island sound upwards of 5 to 11 feet. the latest track here taking it in by the time we get into tomorrow evening. another update in one hour. back in january 2008, the

hottest place for politics was in one of the coldest places in the country. a crowd of presidential hopeful was in iowa. >> fired up! ready to go. >> including the junior senator from illinois. >> let's go change the world. we sat down on the cnn bus to talk for our first interview. >> when you're sitting in the oval office and you're the decider, how can you still be the change agent from that position? >> let's take health care. it's not by name calling and yelling at them. it's going to be to mobilize the american people so they know it's in their interest. >> reform health care, an ambition challenge. a year later it topped president

obama's to-do list. >> let there be no doubt. health care reform cannot wait, it will not wait, and it will not wait another year. >> many felt he needed to tackle other issues first, like creating jobs and growing economy. >> as a real policy implications on what else can't get done in that year. even when you do that, the chances of success, given 80 years is, oh, like one out of a million. >> he was advised and he knew going in the politics wouldn't be very good. >> the status quo is not working for you. >> but the president believed he could succeed where others before him had failed. >> thank you very much, everybody. god bless you. >> with health care, i think it had to do with the fact that he doesn't want to be just another president. he wanted to be a great president. >> the president launched his fight to reform health care, and

largely outsourced it to congress. members were left to hammer out details on their own. >> and the president wanted bipartisan support. >> this time we will not fail. >> the result, total impasse. >> i want to show you a chart -- >> a deadlocked congress produced nearly a half dozen plans. >> 1990 pages. >> and a growing swell of resistance. >> poorly designed for government take over of our health care system. >> the reforms i'm proposing would not apply to those here i will zeal you lie! >> you don't see barack obama

bow brow beating. he constantly feels he's a child of destiny. that self-confidence is his strong suit and can also lead you to overthinking you can move mountains when mountains move very slowly. >> as the bill sat in congre congress -- rage exploded across the country. >> this is a vehicle to take us down a path of total socialism and total totalitarian. >> the president seemed to play the professor in chief. >> he seemed to lack that emotional bit when he's talking about the politics. he's very wonkish. which surprises people because on the campaign trail he seemed to be a different person. >> in a final blow, a crucial democratic seat passed into

republican hands. >> ted kennedy, u.s. senate, which he occupied for 46 years until his death last year has been won by a republican. >> the president lost the votes he needed to pass health care reform. his associates told him to scale back or return to it later. >> they said, you know, mr. president, unless you're feeling lucky, i don't think this is going to happen. >> i was making a joke. i said, look, my name is barack obama, i'm in the oval office, so i have to be lucky. i felt we still had an opportunity, although it was going to be more difficult to try to get it done. >> by all accounts, which the politics seemed lost -- >> that's the right thing to do. >> president obama decided to double down on health care. >> caution, deliberation, and occasionally making an

incredibly bold move. that's the wau he operates. >> here's what i ask congress. don't walk away from reform. not now. >> the president personally lobbied democrats to back his plan. then the bill was forced through the senate with a procedural end run. >> the patient protection and affordable health care act is passed. >> when it was over, president obama had accomplished something that had eluded democratic presidents for 75 years. >> he nevertheless had the political acumen to get this passed. >> the president is the ultimate three-point shooter with ten seconds left on the clock. to his credit, he has a lot to show for it. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states, barack obama. >> in vice president biden's now infamous words --

>> this is big deal. >> today, health care becomes law in the united states of america. >> when i think about all the seniors who are seeing more discounts on their prescription drugs and when i meet people who say, you know what, my brother, my uncle, my father, have a preexisting condition, couldn't get health insurance and now they feel more secure. the effort was worth it. >> he got his historic victory but at a tremendous cost. during the year the president was focused on health care, more jobs and homes were lost and frustration mounted, even at town halls like this one on cnbc. >> i'm one of your middle class americans. quite frankly, i'm exhausted. i'm exhausted of defending you -- transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything

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>> we are done. >> president obama had won a hard-fought victory on health care but the country was still hurting. >> some economists are predicting that the unemployment rate could go higher. >> this is the first time ever that repossessions have topped 100,000 in a single month. >> as i've said from the start, there's no quick fix to the worst recession we've experienced since the great depression. >> by the summer of his second year in office, even some supporters seemed to be losing patience. like velma hart at this cnbc town hall. >> i'm one of your middle class americans. quite frankly, i'm exhausted. i'm exhausted of defending you,

defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that i voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now. >> what made you ask the question? >> at the time, it was a burning issue. i had conversations with friends, colleagues, family members, who were out of work. we were all talking about, you know, year and a half in, were we feeling the change we were all so excited about? >> change wasn't coming fast enough. not for velma hart. not for those voters who swept the president into office and expected him to champion their causes. latino voters were looking for the change candidate obama had promised on the campaign trail. >> we will have in the first year an immigration bill that i strongly support and that i'm promoting. >> while the president got credit in the latino community for appointing sonya sotomayor to the supreme court, he lost points for deporting more undocumented immigrants than any administration in history.

and for failing to pass the immigration reform he promised. when republicans blocked a bill that would let the children of undocumented immigrants stay in the u.s., the president did not use his power to make them legal on his own. >> i think a lot of people came in with that sort of narrower focus on what he would do for them. not really understanding that he's more pragmatic perhaps than they expected. >> we deserve -- >> we deserve -- >> full equality -- >> full equality! >> for gay americans, different issues, same response. >> and we are -- >> repeal don't ask, don't tell! >> now, it's good to see you. >> yes, we can! yes, we can! >> candidate obama had promised a repeal of don't ask, don't tell. but as president, he asked gay

americans to wait patiently. >> as commander in chief, in time of war, i do have a responsibility to see that this change is administered in a practical way and a way that takes over the long term. >> he went through a process because he wanted to get by him. he didn't want to just repeal don't ask, don't tell, he wanted to make sure gays could serve in the military proudly, without being alienated order or ostracized and would have the support. >> the repeal would pass congress but after almost two years. it was change on the president's time frame. >> that's why i believe this is the right thing to do for our military. that's why i believe it is the right thing to do, period. >> i think that the repeal of don't ask, don't tell, was one of his largest civil rights accomplishments. and the fact you haven't heard any stories about any problems is an indication that sometimes it's better to do it over a slower process than to do it expeditiously. >> as the nation's first black president, barack obama has been expected to tackle race in ways

other presidents have not. he told "black enterprise" magazine, quote, i'm not the president of black america, i'm the president of the united states of america. >> everything he's done, both short, medium and long term to get our economy back on track, all of that benefits the african-american community. >> harvard's randall kennedy has written about the president and race. >> there have been some black americans who have been quite critical of the president. the great masses of black americans have been quite realistic and have understood the special burdens that barack obama faced. >> i don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. >> early on, the president created an uproar by commenting on the arrest of black harvard professor henry lewis gates, jr.

by a white police officer outside his own home. >> number one, any of us would be pretty angry. number two, that the cambridge police acted stupidly. >> immediately, immediately, there were people who said, ah, this shows barack obama's resentfulness. this shows barack obama has a problem with white culture. this shows that barack obama doesn't like white people. >> the president doused the controversy in the rose garden with gates and the police officer at the so-called beer summit. >> well, he's trying to negotiate the dangerous ways of race in america. it's not easy for any president. and particularly more sensitive and subtle for a black president. >> sensitive, both personally and politically. >> his memoir's all about race. that's the lens through which he saw his life. so i think it's very deeply part of how he views the world. and how he views himself. but i think that politically he

doesn't want to get stuck there. >> does he make a conscious decision not to talk about race in office? >> periodically, he's spoken to it in ways that are very, very powerful. i don't think he sees that as the defining issue of our time. the defining issue of our time is how all americans can live in a country where if they work hard, they can get ahead. >> but as the midterm elections approached, millions of americans feared they'd never get ahead. and on november 2nd, 2010 -- >> cnn is now ready to make a major projection. the republicans will take control of the house of representatives. >> can you hear us now! >> bolstered by the tea party, six republicans claimed seats in the senate and 63 swept into the house, giving the gop the majority. >> i'm not recommending for either future president that they take a shellacking like i did last night. >> it seemed the american people

were having buyer's remorse. rejecting the president they'd embraced so warmly just two years earlier. the president would have to find a way to get back in the game. >> when things get challenging, he's at his best. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america.

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reggie love knows the president as a strong midrange shooter. >> he'll take his midrange jumper and he'll attack the basket. he'll knock down open shots when he's got them. >> the kind of guy you want on your side. love has been on the president's

team since the campaign days. what's he like when he's just hanging out? >> he's like a guy, you know. he likes the bulls. he likes the bears. he likes sports. like most guys i know. which can sometimes be hard for some people. they're like, oh, wait, he's just like me. but he's the president. >> as his personal assistant and confidante, love's seen the president as few others have. >> he's very much a person who enjoys the simple things in life. enjoins watching a good game. enjoys a good cocktail. is competitive at everything he does. if it's bowling or pool or shuffle board. there isn't anything i think he'd be okay losing at. >> the republicans will take control of the house of representatives. >> and even when he wasn't winning with his policies, the president seemed to score with his popularity. >> most americans, polls show, like barack obama.

♪ i am so in love with you ♪ >> when he sings a little song and acts a little cool or shoots baskets or he tell a joke, people still swoon over him. >> his cool demeanor plays as hip to some. >> why? >> here on "saturday night live." >> i keep it cool. i take my kids to school. i don't lose my temper. it's my only rule. i keep it cool. >> the president's biographer says it stems from the laid-back >> cool as president but passionate as his role as commander in chief. >> he has to be balanced. bill clinton was imbalanced.

he needed those stranger so he would spend the hour between 6:00 and 9:00 talking to people in congress, where basically president obama is with his family during those hours. which is a balanced thing to do but not necessarily good for a president. >> when we're in town here in washington, in the evenings, 6:30 we want to be at the dinner table with our kids and i want to be helping with their homework. i think that's sometimes interrupted as me not wanting to, you know, be out there slapping backs and wheeling and dealing. it has to do with our stage in life. >> if you're re-elected, your girls will have their own plans. >> it's already happening. >> do you do outreach, so-called back slapping with members of congress? >> my hope is getting past this election, people will have an opportunity to maybe step back and say, you know what, the differences that divide us aren't as important as the

common bonds we have as americans. some of that, i'm sure, will require additional effort on my part. hopefully we'll see more effort on the other side as well. >> though being a family man isn't always an asset in office, it is a priority for the president. >> you have to remember this is a man who raised in a single family, his father abandoned him. he's lived with that missing piece in his life. at a young age he decided he wanted to be a present father. >> and a partner in parenting to his wife, michelle. >> we share tphysicians onfy, w

tell our kids they need to be kind, decent. >> he loves his wife. she's a great source of personal strength to him. >> and michelle obama's role has been to keep him grounded. make sure his ego isn't a macy's float that takes off. >> she keeps me straight every single day. she is the best mom in the world. and she's cute. >> the president has called you the best mom in the world. he says the girls are ground and great. but no kid is perfect, so -- >> no. >> -- when the time calls for it, which one of you plays the heavy? >> you know, this is the thing i like about barack. he's not like the happy dad. you know, he is very good at reinforcing the rules and boundaries we set. we never get into that, but dad said. we're very good at not letting the kids play -- play off of us.

>> but clearly on the court, the girls listen closely to what dad says. you coach your daughter's basketball team. >> there you go. that's sasha's team, the vipers. this has been so much fun. ♪ >> i don't coach them full time. i'm sort of an assistant coach adviser. >> what does the president's own game say about his leadership style? >> he's a competitor. you know, sometimes you get a bad call. from an efficiency standpoint you can cry about the call or look to the next play. >> calm and cool, assets that would prove invaluable when facing high stakes, high risks and the nation's greatest enemy. >> we got the word geronimo.

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my fellow americans. >> saturday, april 30th, 2011. >> mahalo! >> president obama was doing stand-up at the white house correspondents' dinner. as halfway around the world, a

group of navy s.e.a.l.s was moving into position to target the world's most wanted terrorist. >> some people now suggest i'm too professorial. i'd like to address that head on. >> if he was anxious, he didn't show it. >> by assigning all of you some reading that will help you draw your own conclusions. >> the planning had started in secret months before. >> he asked each and every one of us in the small group of the national security council what our opinion was. and there was disagreement. so, it came down as it does in theegs situations with the hard decision having to go to the president. >> when i'm making decisions, i try pull back a little bit and take the long view. >> there were easier options. and the plan on the table risked hostages or casualties.

>> i think for me to be able to step back and say, all right, what's best for the country, and not get caught up in the immediate fears, risks, concerns and pressures that you're feeling right then has probably been helpful. >> the president gave the order. >> he wanted to go for it. you know, he has that self-confidence. he has a sense of luck being on his side. >> the next day, the president and his national security team watched as navy s.e.a.l.s raided the compound where osama bin laden was believed to be hiding. >> we were following it in real time. so it was a roller coaster of emotions that we were living through. >> the president described it as

the longest 40 minutes of his life. then came the news. >> we got the word geronimo. what that meant was we got him, we saw him, it is bin laden. but we had to get our guys out. so, i'm not sure any of us breathed until we got word that they had crossed back into afghanistan. >> the president normally known for his caution had chosen the riskiest course possible and it paid off. >> i can report to the american people and to the world that the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al qaeda. >> usa! usa! usa! >> to those on the left who watched how the obama presidency played out, the surprise was his aggressiveness. to those on the right, the

surprise was his aggressiveness. they kept thinking he was a community organizer from chicago who had no concept of how to use american power. >> it would be hard to argue that any president had a duty higher than the ones that they and drastically expanded the use of armed drones to target terrorists. >> he may be known as the drone president. the president who relied on technology to do the business of troops. >> my most sacred duty as president and commander in chief is to keep the american people safe. drones are one tool that we use. >> even if the target is an american. in 2011, one of those targeted for death was anwar al awlaki, an al qaeda leader living in yemen and also an american

citizen. are the standards different when the target's an american? >> when an american has made a decision to affiliate itself with al qaeda and target fellow americans, that there is a legal justification for us to try to stop them from carrying out plots. >> many of his supporters are quite concerned because they view this as basically a form of targeted assassination. >> do you struggle with this policy? >> oh, absolutely. if you don't, then it's very easy to slip into a situation in which you end up bending rules thinking that the ends always justify the means. >> another new front tear with israel the president is believed to have launched a devastating

cyber war against iran's nuclear war. but the president's been plagued with tensions with israel's prime minister. >> our commitment to israel security must not waiver. and neither must our pursuit of peace. >> for the president, it's a nuanced approach. >> when america's threatened, the president doesn't hesitate to act on his own. >> where he determined we would have to unilaterally, it was all about those people, those groups that threaten us. >> but in a humanitarian crisis, like syria's, the president prefers company. and until he has it, he won't act. >> syria has created great outrage and terrible

humanitarian anguish, but we don't have any international consensus about the way forward. >> it all adds up to what some call the obama doctrine. >> the obama doctrine is less blood, less treasure, less intervention of a lengthy kind. >> though governor romney called him reluctant to lead. >> the administration has characterized their foreign policy as leading from behind. i call that following. >> these days his critics have more ammunition with the deaths of obama chris stevens and three other americans in libya. it happened on 9/11, raising questions, why wasn't security ramped up and why were protests initially blamed for the attack? a month later, the president addressed these questions on abc

news. >> as information came in, information was put out. the information may not have always been right the first time. >> the president says the fog of war created confusion. when is clear as commander in chief, the president can fly solo. to solve the country's domestic problems, he needs a partner. >> the president was going to deliver half the democrats, i was going to have to deliver half the republicans. i was confident i could do that.

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at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. a gorgeous june day. the nation's capitol. but this is no ordinary golf game. for president barack obama and house speaker john boehner, this is a chance to be partners rather than political foes. by june 2011, it had been eight months since the republicans won control of the house and the senate's top republican declared -- >> our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny president obama a second term. >> eight months since the

midterms when a president offered awe my way forward. >> we were in such a way to get things done that we didn't change how things got done. >> and eight months since a bipartisan debt commission offered a host of painful solutions. solutions washington ignored. by the time both men hit the links, the crisis over the looming debt ceiling threatened to make a bad economy even worse. >> it would be two to three times worse of a recession than the one we were facing as the president comes into office. >> the stakes were high and the republicans emboldened by midterm victories. >> thank you, pennsylvania! >> republicans were essentially saying, that thha ha, the presi will get nothing and he'll like

it. >> so he looked to a new partner. >> the president and i get along. >> he felt like boehner, that he could do business with a guy like that. i think president obama saw him as the great hope. >> the president and speaker boehner began meetings with their parties worlds apart. republicans wanted to cut spending. >> we've got to stop growing government, hoping to grow jobs. instead we have to start cutting the federal deficit. >> democrats wanted to limit tax giveaways to the wealthiest american. >> what we've heard from our republican colleagues is they're not willing to close one special interest tax loophole. >> the president and speaker boehner came up with an ambitious absolutely. they crafted a grand bargain to the debt ceiling and changes to social security, medicare, tax policy and defense spending. for both sides it meant lots of

pain but for the nation it could mean lots of gain. >> i think he genuinely thought there was something meaningful to deal with our long-term debt and had what he considered productive discussions with john boehner. >> new urgency this morning -- >> the clock ticks -- >> we've been here before but not quite this close to default. >> was thereer a time in that meeting when he said, we have a deal? >> yes, ma'am. about a week before the debt ceiling was to expire. the president asked mr. cantor and i to come into the oval office where we would basically seal the deal. >> it seemed the president had bridged the partisan divide and could count reigning in the social deficit and then it collapsed and the finger-pointing began. >> not one time.

not one time did the administration ever put a plan on the table. >> it is hard to understand why speaker boehner would walk away from this kind of deal. >> reporter: for speaker boehner, the problem was a last request to alter the deal. >> i said, mr. president, you know i can't do this. i'm out as far on a limb as i can get and you know it. why are you doing it? it's unfortunate. he basically blew up the deal. >> not true, says the white house. >> i think personally speaker boehner wanted to do something, he just couldn't control his caucus. >> reporter: but the speaker says his people were never the problem. >> i got into tough negotiations with ted kennedy. he didn't flinch. he didn't back away from the deal. he went straight forward. that's courage. >> speaker boehner, he says you flivenlged. flinched. >> yeah, well, i'm sure that's his version of events.

i was prepared to make some cuts and changes that were very unpopular, in my base, among democrats. if i got a little compromise from the other side on revenue. >> both men seemed burned by the experience. >> if i look back over the year and a half or so that i've been speaker, my greatest disappointment is the president and i couldn't come to an agreement on solving our debt crisis. >> the deal brokered by vice president biden was far smaller than what president obama wanted. it was a turning year. >> it took him two year to the debt ceiling debate to understand that he was not going to be able to be the conciliatory president, the mediator in chief. >> now, more than a year after that golf game, the president says of republicans -- >> where i can work with them, i will. where they don't want to compromise, i'll work around

them. >> and he set out on a path of go for jugular politics. he laid out his jobs plan, champed the payroll cut, and took executive action without the support of congress. >> we can't simply wait for congress to do their job. >> the republicans fired back. >> now we have on our own modern day great robbery. >> probing the bankruptcy of the taxpayer funded solar energy firm solyndra and pursuing fast and furious, the gun trafficking operation that cost a border agent his life. >> the bitter partisan divide was back out in the open.

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we're fired up! we're ready to go! >> barrelling into 20 12, the president turned his attention to a new battle.

>> four more years! >> the election. >> i think his naivety has been finally squashed. i don't think you've see that naive, yes, we can man of 2008 ever again. from a candidate he shifted focus from wooing the other side to winning back disappointed voter, like women. >> i for one am spending a lot of time talking to women to make sure they understand all that's on the line. they don't to want see all we worked for and fought for to just slip away. >> and then gays and lesbians. >> hey obama don't you know, homophobia's got to go. >> saying this on "good morning america". >> i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> next latinos, an essential voting bloc. after initially failing to press for immigration reform, in june

the president temporarily halted deportation of the children of undocumented immigrants. >> campaign 2012 had begun. >> to be the trns formational president, he wants to be, you have to have two terms. you can't do it in one. so everything is riding on this election for barack obama. >> the president has framed this as a battle over opposing economic visions. >> you cannot grow this economy from the top down. you grow this economy from the middle class out. >> four more years! >> his campaign launched an assault on governor romney's record. >> made over $20 million but only paid 14% in taxes. >> in the final days president obama is making a closing

argument that's part jab -- >> i think it's called romnesia. >> part promise. >> i will spend every waking hour trying to make your lives a little bit better. >> i'm counting on you. >> leaving the two men in a close race to the finish, with a tiny margin of undecided voters likely to make all the difference. >> ultimately it will be up to voters and historians to assess the president's term in office. among his accomplishments, the killing of barack obama. the passage of landmark but controversial health care reform, the restructuring of the american auto industry, averting a great depression, and keeping his promise to withdrawal from iraq. >> the last 3 1/2 years will probably be viewed as one of the most tumultuous periods in

american history. having that steady hand that the president has, i think, has really benefitted our country. >> on the other side of the ledger, millions of americans still unemployed. millions of homes still under water. a ballooning national debt, a broken promise to close guantanamo bay. the killing of ambassador chris stevens in libya and a nation more divide than ever. >> but isn't that what you ran on in 2008, promising to bridge the divide? >> what i promised is we were going to look out for the american people and that i would do everything i could to break through some of the old ideological gridlock and just focus on what works. and that's actually what we did. >> despite the challenges,

president obama says he can still do more. >> what i hope is post election the american people are willing to see me here for another four years, that members of congress are going to remind themselves what they're sent here to do. that is ultimately to work for the people who sent us here. >> as the clock runs out, the president is pitching the same advice he gives his daughter's basketball team. >> just always worry about doing your job, doing your best, getting better and thinking like a team.

a man born to wealth, privilege and politics. >> i'm mitt romney and i'm running for president of the united states. >> i think my dad has always felt like he wanted to be true to his dad's name and legacy. >> a savvy businessman who made a fortune at bain capital and turned around the 2002 olympics. >> he has two tempos, asleep or wide awake at fixing things. a man driven by faith himself, his family and his mormon religion. >> you try your very best to know what god might say. of course, you look to get direction from the church as well. >> a warm, caring man -- >> he was going to do anything he could to just say, i'm here. just stay right there. and we'll be okay. >> or a cold, calculating politician. >> he's made decisions knowing that they could resurface under the glare of a political

campaign. >> mitt romney isn't pro choice, he isn't antichoice, he's multiple choice. >> a political opportunist. >> you change his issue on a broad range of issues for one reason. he wanted to run as president of the united states. >> i know his core. honesty, decency, conviction, intelligence for doing the right thing. >> we're going to run -- >> now "romney revealed: family, faith and the road to power." ♪ ann and mitt romney's summer home sits on a lake in new hampshire, a large and lived in private retreat for the entire clan, all 28 of them. >> they all just left last night. ran through 12 loads this

morning. a lot of towels, a lot of sheets. it's a jou yous thing to have them all here. >> even in the midst of a presidential campaign. tell me a little bit about the mitt romney that's here at the lake. >> nonstop. nonstop. he's going every minute. he pops out of bed the first thing in the morning and he's just going. >> here inside the lake house, romney is more camp counselor than governor. >> warm, spontaneous. get him out of the public eye, put him in here. he's as loose and funny and spontaneous as you'd ever want to see and so much fun to be with. >> what happens when you get in the public eye? >> you have to be more circumspe circumspect, more careful with your words. it's unfortunate, i think, that even -- you know, people i think probably only think of mitt through his business lens. for me, you know, that is just 1% of who he is.

>> and who is he really? first and foremost, a romney. >> the romney name has been in the public eye the last half century. a family of great wealth and business achievement, political success as well as failures. mitt was the fourth and last child for george and lenore romney, born march 12, 1947. some recall him as the favorite. george wrote to the family in september 1956. mitt is growing like a weed, is full of ideas and energy as ever. tom mccaffrey grew up with romney. >> mitt as a child was extremely energetic. kind of kid that could never sit down. his mind was going 100 miles an hour. >> george was much the same way. you know, he's just -- he's got

that energy. >> fill i want maxwell lived down the street from the romneys in a wealthy detroit suburb. >> george would go out on the golf course, and he had fluorescent golf balls. he would hit the ball, running after the ball, jogging, hit the ball again and that was his exercise. >> young mitt not only had his father's energy -- >> there seems to be a special bond between george and mitt. >> the co-authors of the book "the real romney". >> mitt absolutely idolized his father, which you can see in the way he's drawn out his life, following the same foot steps of the career. >> george was a ceo who saved american motors by betting on smaller car. it gave his son a first look at business. >> george was a turn-around artist at american motors, taking a company that had lost focus or for whatever reason, and fixing it. >> once george made his mark in

the auto world, he switched gears to politics. he was the republican governor much michigan for three terms. and young mitt was a fixture on the campaign trail. schooled early in issues, strategies and the possibility of losing. >> and dad's pollster said, george, you can't possibly win. was a kid in high school i thought, oh, no, we're going to lose. i'm going to be embarrassed at school. these little things kids think. my dad said, he was clear, i'm not here about winning or losing. i'm here to make a difference. he's not defined by elections. he's been defined as a man of character throughout his life. >> and then milt's mother lenore. >> my mom had a softer side. she used to read to me when i was a boy and gave me a love of culture and literature. >> once a screen actress, lenore met george in 1924. their courtship became an often

told part of the family story. >> he left what he was doing, tried to convince her to marry him instead of going into the movie business. he knew what he wanted and was not going to stop until he got it. >>. >> mitt's courtship was in some way no less intense. they were teenagers at neighboring elite private schools in detroit. it was mitt's senior year when he spotted the 16-year-old ann davies at a dance. >> i did fall madly in love with him very quickly, actually. but i was very aloof, very cool. >> she was very smart. she set the hook deep. and i'd call and say, let's get together. she was too busy. she went on a date with someone else while i was pursuing her. made me crazy. >> he was so much fun. captivating. lots of fun, fun, fun. >> lots of stories of practical jokes.

>> a rookie was trying to swim around, trying to find his place. one of the cons was that he would get involved in these pranks, which were really attention-getting devices. >> but maxwell remembers one incident he said crossed the line. a young classmate returned from break with long, bleach blond hair, and a group of guys, including romney, confronted him. >> he was taken down. and mitt had scissors and he cut his hair. it was an ugly scene and it was a long time ago, but i'll never forget it because of the look on this boy's face. he was absolutely terrified when they took him down. >> others as you know who went to cranbrook with you they remember stories they say were over the top, maybe even cruel to some students. do you remember it that way? >> no, i don't.

i know that comes up during the campaign season but it's the first time i've heard that. >> the hair-cutting story? >> i think that's the only story i've heard of that nature. but the pranks we pulled were designed to be funny and to have fun. i can imagine that now and then things i did in high school are not things i would want to be part of a presidential campaign. that was decades ago. one incident when romney was a teenager without focus and direction. something he would find later in a very surprising place. sandy begins a turn to the coast. ivanka brar ra live from cnn hurricane headquarters. we we see the hook toward the coast. heavy rainfall right along the center of circulation but then we have all these bands that extend out for hundreds of miles. the scope of the storm is

enormous. we're getting wind gusts in atlanta where we don't even have clouds associated with sandy. you can appreciate the scope here. we'll be talking about rain that's going to be flooding because of the amount of it coming out of the sky, 4 to 8 inches. some areas possibly up to 10 inches and then talking about the storm surge coming in along the coast from those winds that are going to be guesting upwards of 80 miles an hour. this is dangerous storm surge. that's your perfect storm scenario, 6 to 11 feet. this it comes to pass, this will be a disaster for folks in and around new york and where we make landfall. that won't happen until later on this evening, monday evening around 8:00. very heavy rainfall on the way, that will continue throughout the day, as well our updates from cnn. [ female announcer ] lactaid milk is easy to digest.

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it was fall 1965, stanford university. the counterculture movement was growing. a different world for freshman mitt romney, straight from a michigan boarding school and his conservative roots. >> he has this exposure, i think, to all these new ideas, all these new people, these new experiences. >> but all romney could think about at first was ann, back in michigan.

mark marcus was romney's roommate. >> a lot of guys come to college and have high school girlfriends. but you could tell for mitt it was different. >> we were so much in love. i went off to college, and got a job there to earn a little money so i could pay for an airplane ticket to go home and see her. >> this was at stanford. >> while i was at stanford. we didn't tell my parents about this. >> so you snuck home? >> i flew home, snuck home, would take her on a date. >> he's very affected by the world in which he sees an anti-establishment strain growing. >> romney stood with the establishment and for the war. >> his father was for the war. he keeps his political footing. the first time we see mitt romney in a political stance is

when he leads the chant at stanford. standing up with a sign saying, speak out, don't sit in. >> but romney never went to vietnam himself. exempt as a student and with a high draft lottery number. >> he's protesting the antiwar protesters but he does not volunteer to go to vietnam and serve. he would have been eligible to serve, certainly. >> at the end of his freshman year, romney would be called to serve. not his country, but his faith. as a mormon missionary in france. it was a tradition he considered breaking. >> he was concerned, according to his friends, that he might lose ann. she told him, if you don't go, you'll always regret it. i'll be here. >> when he left, hi a very brave face, went to the airport with his entire family, we all said good-bye. i was driven home with his family and then i walked into my

home, opened the door. my mother was there. i fell flat on the ground and just dissolved in tears and she could not console me. >> for 2 1/2 years in the turbulent 60s, romney was broad, working every day to convert the skeptical french. >> this is the neighborhood you used to knock on doors in the old day. >> yes, 45 years ago. this is fairly typical. >> he took us back to the streets where they spent 60 hours a week, spreading their faith in french. >> did you have a specific message? >> we would talk to them about our beliefs, about jesus christ, the book of more monday. >> you're out speaking with people day and day about your faith, your religion --

>> and getting doors slammed in your face. >> it was a time, a great deal of rejection. >> romney kept at it. in a rare conversation about his faith, he reveals how the constant rejection led to surprising soul searching. >> you say, okay, wait a second. what's important here? what do i belief? what's the truth? is there a god? is jesus christ the son? these are no longer academic, they're critical because you're talking about this day in and day out. >> as mitt questioned everything he was raised to believe in, his father tried to get his son back on track. >> your your father sent you this letter when you were in france. he quoted robert lewis stevens in twig to not let you get discouraged. he said despair not. but if you despair, work on in

your despair. and then he wrote, so persist. >> my dad, what a guy. what a guy. i mean, he's always been there for me. look, i remember my dad's advice throughout my life. every time i had challenges of one kind or another, he was there with counsel. an extraordinary man. >> who happened to be running for president while mitt was a world away, isolated, depending largely on newspaper accounts of his father's fight for the republican nomination. >> i have decided to fight for and win the republican nomination and election to the presidency of the united states. >> the war in vietnam was issue number one. george romney had been a hawk but turned against the war and said so. >> you know, when i came back from vietnam, i just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get. >> by the general? >> when you go over to vietnam -- not only by the

generals but also by the diplomatic corps over there. >> months after george romney's now-infamous brainwashing comment, his campaign collapsed. an early political lesson mitt romney would never forget. >> mitt's sister jane has said for example this really deeply affected mitt and that he's more careful in what he says, more scripted in what he says because he saw just how one phrase could torpedo a presidential campaign. >> thank you, governor romney. >> thank you very much. >> if george's failure turned romney into the cautious candidate he is today, he won't admit it. some people say you've learned from or overlearned from mistakes. >> i do that, too. i tell the truth, too. he used to say -- one of his favorite sayings was that being right too early is devastating in politics. but, still, it's being right. and you tell people what you believe. >> what romney believes has become an issue throughout his

political career. and while the message was clearer in france, his mission would almost cost him his life. >> i was at home, and i had word that he was killed. see life in the best light.

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in 1968, france was a dangerous place to be for a 21-year-old american. but mitt romney was right in the middle of it.

>> there were protests and there were blockades and there were marches all over the country. >> the streets of france were in chaos. >> there was no train service, there were no buses, no newspapers. the electricity would go off from time to time. there were no letters from home. the money at the time came via check. that was our lifeline, was getting letters from home. >> so you were totally isolated? >> totally isolated. >> they were out of touch pretty much with 200 missionaries that they were responsible for. >> andy anderson's father was leading the mormon mission in france. by the time the riots ended, romney had been promoted to become president anderson's assistant, and they had an urgent assignment. >> they had gotten word there was some little dispute in this southern city in this mormon congregation so they decided to drive down to try to resolve it in person, and mitt was driving. >> it was a warm summer day in

june when they began a six-hour drive between paris and the south of france. romney was driving anderson and his wife leola. >> they, i believe, were in the town of beaulac. as they come north near the top of the hill and in their way was a mercedes. they had no time to react. the car was on the wrong side of the road. >> the mercedes driver, apparently drunk, slammed into them at full speed. both cars crushed and mangled. mitt romney and leola anderson unconscious. >> george called me on the phone and said, "we have some bad news about mitt," but he didn't tell me what and he came and picked me up and took me to his home. i had word that he was killed. >> the policeman on the scene apparently thought i was in worse condition than i was and

wrote in french "he is dead" on my passport. >> we waited for hours and hours, most of the night, to get word from france that he was actually alive. >> i was knocked unconscious and only recall waking up for a brief moment in the ambulance, going to the hospital. >> it turns out that romney had a severe concussion and broken bones, but leola, the mom away from home to 200 young missionaries, was dead. >> it was a great time of challenge and soul searching for all of us. >> romney, anderson's assistant, was now left to lead a struggling mission. >> the person who had been leading our mission there, a wonderful man, was so injured that he had to return to the united states for surgeries. and during that time i and one other fellow took responsibility for overseeing the affairs of the 200 or so men and women -- or boys and girls -- that were serving there as missionaries. >> this was a critical moment. >> it was. >> morale must have been -- >> morale was low.

by september, we were only halfway toward our yearly goals. >> romney kept the mission going and set an ambitious new goal, more than doubling the target for conversions. >> mitt said, we need to raise >> we were dressed up in vaudeville outfits we had found in the basement of the mission home there. it just brought the house down and lifted people's spirits, and they were laughing again. >> spirits were high and so were the number of converts. >> we were at 80. >> you were at 80. >> doubling it in the last four months. come december 31st, we had 204, 205 new converts that had happened. so the goal was accomplished. >> by the end of his mission, romney had cemented his faith. >> these things drew me closer to the eternal and convinced me that in fact there is a god,

that jesus christ is the son of god and my savior. these are features that continue to be important in my life. >> he was a young boy when he left, a prankster and liked to play jokes and probably didn't take life too seriously. he came back much more studious, much more serious. i think discovered a little bit about who he was and what was important to him. >> mitt romney was ready to return home, but an unexpected letter sent him reeling. >> i was just sort of telling him before he came home, i haven't seen you for 2 1/2 years, i don't -- i'm dating other people. tylenol:nyquil. what are you doing? nyquil (stuffy): just reading your label. wait! you relieve nasal congestion? tylenol: sure. don't you? tylenol (another bottle): hmmm...no... nyquil (stuffy): dude! anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. >> announcer: you never know when, but thieves can steal your identity and turn your life upside down. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us.

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